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6.30.2009

Signing Their Lives Away

From Joseph D'Agnese & Denise Kiernan
promoting their latest book entitled
SIGNING THEIR LIVES AWAY:
The Fame and Misfortune of the Men
Who Signed the Declaration of Independence

The book is in bookstores now, and you may order it from the
following places plus their publisher:

They are visiting all the graves and historic sites of the
signers as part of a documentary film project.
To date, they have shot in three cities and the National Archives,
where the Declaration is preserved. You may view
the trailers of this ongoing project at this link:

You may follow developments on the
book and film at this blog link:

Before the 4th of July weekend commences Joe and Denise would like to share an update on their book and film.

Here's what's been going on:
• The book has been featured in the July 2009 issue of Reader's Digest.
• Library Journal—a key influence on librarian purchases—calls the book "entertaining."
• We are happy to see that the book's popularity has extended well beyond the 13 original colonies. A bookseller in the midwest pronounced it "snarky but cheerful" to local news media sizing up summer reads.
• We continue to hold our own in rankings posted on B&N, Tower and three history lists on Amazon. (Depending on the day, they are actually beating such authors as David McCullough, Thomas Paine, and...um, Gandhi.)
• Our web store is now open, featuring T-shirts and other products to help raise funds for the documentary. WE hope in time to add shirts of all the signers.

This weekend we make a pilgrimage to the grave of South Carolina signer Thomas Heyward Jr. to capture footage for the film and interview descendants.

If you have not seen the the current trailers, be sure to take a look at the film site.

We thank all those who ordered the book. You can find out more about the project via the websites below.

6.29.2009

A Collection of Poets at The Perch Cafe, 6.30.09

DINNER WITH THE MUSE. A collection of some of the best poets in NYC, put together by Evie Ivey. Evie is a dancer and poet, and host of the poetry reading series at the Green Pavilion in Brooklyn, from which most of these poems were read and submitted. The book has been over a year in the making, and here it is at last, and is available at St. Mark’s Bookstore.

365 5TH AVENUE PARK SLOPE
F/R Train to 4th Avenue/9th Street (btwn 5th and 6th St.)
WWW.THEPERCHCAFE.COM

6.25.2009

Films on the Haywall-This Friday, June 26th!

Culture Project presents "Blueprint" which airs on LinkTV this weekend!

"Working the Dark Side" with
Rachel Maddow and Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez
Premieres June 26 on Link TV

If you missed "Working the Dark Side" on May 31st at The Times Center, tune in to Link TV this weekend to watch the Culture Project event that made news headlines.

In a gripping hybrid of live theater and journalism, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow was joined by Pulitzer-Prize winning author Ron Suskind, Vince Warren of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, who commanded U.S. troops in Iraq from 2003 to 2004. The evening, directed by Fisher Stevens, featured performances by Liev Schreiber, John Leguizamo, Noah Emmerich and Julianna Margulies.

Watch Link TV or go online to www.linktv.org/blueprint to witness the unprecedented discourse that took place, where Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez called for a Truth Commission - the first major figure from the Iraq War to do so.

In honor of "Torture Awareness and Survivor's Week," (June 22-28) the program will air on the following dates:
Friday, June 26 (5pm PT/8 pm ET) -
International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

Saturday, June 27 (1pm PT/4pm ET)
Sunday, June 28 (8pm PT/11pm ET).

The program will air nationwide in all States and is available via satellite on Direct TV channel 375 and Dish Network channel 9410. A special version will be streamed online at www.linktv.org/blueprint
Photos: Rachel Maddow and Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez in "Working the Dark Side." Photos: Prabakhar Jeff Street

presented by

6.22.2009

Literary Tuesday Reading Series and ''Brooklyn'' a juried exhibition

Literary Tuesday
7:30pm
The Perch Cafe
open mic follows

Meghan O'Rourke
is the author of Halflife, a collection of poems. Her poetry and criticism has appeared in The New Yorker, Slate, the Nation, and more. The recipient of the 2008 May Sarton Award, she lives in Brooklyn.

Wayne Koestenbaum has published five books of poetry: Best-Selling Jewish Porn Films, Model Homes, The Milk of Inquiry, Rhapsodies of a Repeat Offender, and Ode to Anna Moffo and Other Poems. He has also published a novel, Moira Orfei in Aigues-Mortes, and five books of nonfiction: Andy Warhol, Cleavage, Jackie Under My Skin, The Queen’s Throat (a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist), and Double Talk. His newest book, Hotel Theory, a hybrid of fiction and nonfiction, was published in 2007. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at the CUNY Graduate Center, and also a Visiting Professor in the painting department of the Yale School of Art.


365 5TH AVENUE PARK SLOPE
F/R Train to 4th Avenue/9th Street (btwn 5th and 6th St.)
WWW.THEPERCHCAFE.COM

• • • • •

“Brooklyn”
a juried exhibition capturing
places, events and people related to
the borough of Brooklyn, New York.

440 Gallery
440 Sixth Avenue
Park Slope Brooklyn

The opening reception is
Thursday, June 25th, from 6 - 9pm
The show runs through Saturday July 25, 2009

painting by Susan Greenstein

6.14.2009

Readings & Performances at The Perch Cafe, Cornelia St. Cafe and Cherry Lane Theater

Perch Literary Series
Tuesday, June 16 @ 7:30pm
hosted by Pam Laskin
with an open mic to follow
No cover, but Perch appreciates your patronage.

Jennifer Kronovet is the author of the poetry collection, AWAYWARD (BOA Editions, 2009). She is the co-founder and co-editor of CIRCUMFERENCE, the journal of poetry in translation. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Colorado Review, Fence, Open City, Ploughshares, A Public Space and elsewhere. She will be reading with Idra Novey, whose first collection of poetry, The Next Country received the 2007 Kinereth Gensler Award from Alice James Books, and was released in 2008. This book received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly, and was included in Virginia Quarterly Review’s list of Best Poetry Books of 2008. Her poems and prose have appeared in Slate, The Paris Review, A Public Space and The Believer. In 2007, she published a book of her translations of Brazilian poet Paulo Henriques Britto. Novey teaches in the School of the Arts at Columbia University, and in the Bard College Initiative.

June 23-TBA: A real surprise!

365 5TH AVENUE PARK SLOPE
F/R Train to 4th Avenue/9th Street (btwn 5th and 6th St.)
WWW.THEPERCHCAFE.COM

• • • •


GOLDA SOLOMON “THE MEDICINE WOMAN OF JAZZ” WITH PO’JAZZ Golda Solomon, host at 6:00PM

Our own Brooklyn Cowgirl is a leading voice in the poetry & jazz explosion, a true treasure.

Doors open at 5:30; Jazz begins at 5:45


PO’JAZZ HOSTS THE ACCLAIMED BROOKLYN PERCH LITERARY SERIES

Featured Reader: Pam Laskin

Poet/Readers Duewa Frazier,
Rishana Blake, Laura Modigliani
with Les Krevsky Flute

Music by The Double Sharps
Dan Lipsitz (leader & sax) • Daniel Cicourel Hanley (guitar)
Jake Pinto (keyboards) • Bailen (bass)
Francis DiNoto (drums)

The Double Sharps: "These student musicians are the future
‘lions’ of jazz. Mentoring is energizing.” — Golda Solomon

“Po’Jazz at Cornelia Street is one big friendly party of good words,
good sounds, and good food.” — Gladys Serrano, Mutable Music

$15 ($10 students with ID) includes one drink (cash only)
Cover $15 (includes one house drink) www.jazzjaunts.com

29 Cornelia Street
Greenwich Village
212.989.9319

• • • •

Our Time invites you to its upcoming Pre-Teen & Teen Shows:
Awesomealicious and If You Go
performance at
Cherry Lane Theatre
38 Commerce Street
New York, NY

Friday, June 19th, 8pm (Reception to follow)
Saturday, June 20th, 8pm
Sunday, June 21st, 3pm

Tickets are $12, reservations are a must!

Tickets are on sale on our website at ourtimetheatre.org/shop or
you can call (212) 414-9696 or email us at
moreinfo@outimetheatre.org to make your reservations.


6.13.2009

Hamptons Collegiate Baseball hosts Free Clinic in Sag Harbor, Sunday 6.14.09

If you are in the Hamptons this weekend the Sag Harbor Whalers will be hosting a Free Clinic in Mashashimuet Park at 10am Sunday, June 14th. The Sag Harbor Whalers are one of several teams under the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball venture. Check out the article entitled Field of Dreams eloquently written by David Lion Rattiner, editor of the East Hampton Star. The article captures the true spirit behind Rusty Leaver's idea to create Hamptons Collegiate Baseball on the East End. Rusty Leaver owns and operates Deep Hollow Ranch in Montauk with his wife Diane Leaver.

6.12.2009

urbanseashell welcomes a new blogger to the blogosphere—Sag Harbor Days

For all the foodies cityline to shoreline visit Sag Harbor Days!

Lauren Chattman is a food writer who has lived in Sag Harbor for 13 years. She is the author of 12 cookbooks (Most recently, Dessert Express from Taunton Press) and the co-author of a half-dozen others (including Dessert University with former White House Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier and Local Breads with artisan baking authority Daniel Leader, which won a 2008 IACP Cookbook Award). Although most of her writing is targeted to a national audience, it is the local scene that inspires her. She started Sag Harbor Days to share the little things she loves about cooking and living in this town. Lauren is pictured here in her kitchen.

6.09.2009

Video clip of The Charistmatic Megaphonic String Orchestra! Next performance-Wednesday, June 10 at 6:30pm @ The Perch Cafe

The Charistmatic Megaphonic String Orchestra is an old-time string band with a modern twist. Its members are Park Slope's own Bilger family--Burkhard Bilger on guitar, Jennifer Nelson on violin and accordion, Hans Bilger (13) on stand-up bass, and Ruby Bilger (10) on vocals and percussion. Their friend and spiritual leader Michael Abrams plays ukulele and the youngest Bilger--Evangeline (5)--occasionally joins in on songs about chickens. The band plays an uproarious mixture of folk songs, novelties tunes, and rock-and-roll classics, filtered through their own sweet but slightly skewed sensibilities.

Watch the video I shot as they play their closing signature piece by
Gillian Welch, I'll Fly Away.
(FREE QuickTime Player download from the apple site.)




Enjoy them live at The Perch Cafe in Park Slope.
Wednesday, June 10 at 6:30 PM
(last gig until next Fall)
No cover.
Perch Cafe appreciates your support when you
buy a drink or try some of their delicious lite fare.

365 5TH AVENUE PARK SLOPE
F/R Train to 4th Avenue/9th Street (btwn 5th and 6th St.)
WWW.THEPERCHCAFE.COM


6.08.2009

Tuesday Night Readings at the Perch Cafe-7:30pm


Graham Buchan graduated as a Chemical Engineer, but has spent his working life in the film, video and television industries, including a substantial spell at ABC News’ London bureau. His first poetry pamphlet, Airport Reading was published in 2004, and his first collection, There is Violence in These Vapours in 2007, both from the tall lighthouse. He was joint winner of Piccadilly Poets in 2001, and the Cellar Slam Champion in 2006. His poetry has appeared in two dozen magazines, one national newspaper and three anthologies, and he has also published travel writing, short stories and poetry, film and art appreciation. He has read in New York, Vancouver and Austin. He will be reading with Carolyn Steinhoff, who has been writing poetry for many years. She was a semifinalist in the Black Lawrence Press competition in 2008. Her poems have appeared in various journals, most recently Dovetail, out of NYU, and House Organ.
Open mic after the reading.

365 5TH AVENUE PARK SLOPE
F/R Train to 4th Avenue/9th Street (btwn 5th and 6th St.)
WWW.THEPERCHCAFE.COM

6.05.2009

6.6.09-The Market NYC/6.7.09 Shaktea, A Fusion of Fashion, Music and Tea



• •• •• •• •

Charles Nolan and Ghylian Bell present...

SHAKTEA
A Fusion of Fashion, Music and Tea
on Sunday, June 7th from 1:00-3:00 pm
at
charles nolan
30 gansevoort st
new york, ny 10014
212.924.4888

Join us in a celebration inspired by Shakti
"The Great Divine Mother"
the personification of the dynamic forces
that run through the universe

Enjoy the relaxing jazz of
Marsha Heydt
debuting her CD "One Night"

•
• Marsha Heydt •
•
Her music spans the gamut of Latin, Funk, Jazz, and Rock.
She plays with her own ensemble, performing in both private and
public venues in and around New York City . She has performed
with Grover Washington, Bill Watrous, Bob Mintzer, Randy Brecker,
John Stubblefield, George Gee and with Paul Schaefer in a
guest appearance on The David Letterman Show.


•
• Ghylian Bell •
•
Sip the tantalizing tastes of
Urban Yoga Tea
sure to leave you feeling
Empowered, Renewed and Rejuvenated

Ghylian Bell is the founder of The Urban Yoga Foundation,
bringing the holistic lifestyle principles to the urban
community and Urban Yoga Tea, master blenders
of the finest organic and fair trade teas.

5.30.2009

Bridgehampton to Brooklyn, Weekend events + more

SILAS MARDER GALLERY
THE BIG SHOW 4
5.30.09


(click on image to enlarge)
map

•

THE CAT WHO WENT TO HEAVEN
Sat, May 30 at 5pm; Wed, June 3 at 7pm

The Cat Who Went to Heaven, the acclaimed jazz puppet show created by New York City jazz maven Nancy Harrow.

The captivating jazz puppetry show, based on the Newbery Award-winning book by Elizabeth Coatsworth, is returning for six special performances at The Harlem School of the Arts Theater at 647 St. Nicholas Avenue between West 145th and 141st Streets. Click here for directions.

One of the top 10 cast albums of 2006 (TalkinBroadway.com), The Cat Who Went to Heaven soundtrack features legendary jazz artists Kenny Barron (piano) and Grady Tate (on vocals).

Music and lyrics by Nancy Harrow. Directed by Will Pomerantz. Recommended for adults and children.
For reservations, call 212-479-0829.
Visit cultureproject.org for more information.
Suggested donation: $10
—
also playing

One-night only
with
Rachel Maddow, Ron Suskin,
Vince Warren and Rolf Mowatt-Larssen
in
"F*#K IT. WE'RE GOING IN."
Directed by FISHER STEVENS

Join Culture Project on Sunday, May 31 as MSNBC host Rachel Maddow launches our Blueprint for Accountability series with a gripping evening directed by Fisher Stevens.

Rachel Maddow will be joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Suskind, leading counter-terrorism expert Rolf Mowatt-Larssen and Vince Warren, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Our expert panel will be joined by an all-star cast that will punctuate the evening with theatrical dramatizations, exploring the following questions: How should we hold our previous administration accountable for their disregard of the Rule of Law and the Constitution? What role does moral energy play in how we relate to other countries in the world?

Join us! Buy your tickets now.
Tickets only $30.
A limited number of patron tickets are available for $75
($45 tax-deductible,) guaranteeing premiere seating.

To buy tickets, click here or call 212-352-3101.

The Times Center
242 W. 41st Street

To read more about Culture Project's
Blueprint for Accountability Series
, click here.

From Ron Suskind's book "The Way of the World"

I ask if the intelligence was passed to CIA and the White House.
"Of course. Passed instantly, at the very highest levels."

"And what did we say," I ask. "Or, I guess, what did Bush say?"

"He said, Fuck it. We're going in."

•


AWAY WE GO with SAM MENDES in PERSON,
and an EVENING with HAROLD RAMIS


Event dates: Tuesday, June 2, and Friday, June 12, 2009

The Museum of the Moving Image has announced two special programs that will take place in June, in addition to the previously announced New York Premiere of Food, Inc. The Academy-Award winning director Sam Mendes will participate in a discussion following a preview screening of his new movie Away We Go on Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 8:00 p.m., at the Chelsea Cinema 9 on 260 West 23rd Street in Manhattan. And on Friday, June 12 at 7:00 p.m., the Museum will present an evening of conversation and clips with Harold Ramis, the writer, director, and actor who is the creative force behind many of the funniest Hollywood movies of the past thirty years, from Animal House to his new film Year One.

Away We Go is a whimsical and heartfelt road movie about an expectant couple on a cross-country odyssey in search of a place to set down roots and raise their baby. The original screenplay is by the acclaimed novelists Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, who are married, and wrote the film while expecting their first child. Mendes started working on Away We Go while he was putting the finishing touches on Revolutionary Road. “It was a way of letting off steam after the intensity of filming and editing” the latter, he said. “It is kind of a companion piece in that there’s also a couple who want to escape and find themselves—only this time, they do.” The preview screening is made possible by Focus Features, which is releasing Away We Go in New York on June 5.

Harold Ramis has been one of the most prolific and influential figures in American screen comedy since the 1970s. In the Times Center program on June 12, Ramis will discuss his career in a discussion with Chief Curator David Schwartz, with clips from movies including Animal House, Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Analyze This, and more, including a sneak preview of scenes from his new movie, Year One, which is being released by Columbia Pictures on June 19. The evening will also includes clips from the cult-favorite 1970s TV series Second City TV, where Ramis was head writer. “As a writer, director, and actor, Harold Ramis helped liberate film comedy, with a combination of irreverence, rebellion, and wit,” said Schwartz.

The premiere screening of Food, Inc. takes place on Thursday, June 4, 2009, at 7:30 p.m., at the Times Center in Manhattan, followed by an all-star panel discussion including Eric Schlosser, whose international best-seller Fast Food Nation was the original inspiration for the film. Other panelists are: the film’s director, Robert Kenner; Alice Waters, the renowned chef of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California and a champion of locally grown ingredients; Gary Hirshberg, the chairman and president of Stonyfield Farm, the world’s leading organic yogurt producer; and Marcel Van Ooyen, the executive director of the Council on the Environment of New York City, which runs nearly fifty Greenmarkets throughout the five boroughs. The film, which is being released theatrically by Magnolia Pictures on June 12, reveals how the nation’s food supply is controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, and the environment.

Tickets are available online at movingimage.us, or
by calling 718.784.4520.
For the screening of Away We Go,
tickets are $18 for the public/$12 for Museum members
free for Sponsor-level members and above.

For the Food, Inc. premiere and the Harold Ramis program,
tickets are $25 for the public/$15 for Museum members
free for Sponsor-level members and above.

About Museum of the Moving Image
Museum of the Moving Image advances the public understanding and appreciation of the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. It does so by collecting, preserving, and providing access to moving-image related artifacts; screening significant films and other moving-image works; presenting exhibitions of artifacts, artworks, and interactive experiences; and offering educational and interpretive programs to students, teachers, and the general public. Construction is currently underway on a major expansion of the Museum, designed by architect Thomas Leeser. The project entails a complete renovation of the existing first floor and construction of a three-story addition housing a new theater, screening room, galleries, and a multi-classroom education center. The grand opening of the expanded Museum is scheduled for 2010. For more information, visit movingimage.us

•

Tuesday Night at

June 2, 7:30pm

Sue Melot is Brooklyn-born, still residing in the Marine Park section, where she and her husband have lived for many years. A former special education teacher, Susan embarked on a series of classes at the Unterberg Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y., and has been reading and writing poetry for the past five years. Also a serious amateur musician, she studies and plays as much as possible. Her first chapbook, Chameleon was published last August by Finishing Line Press. She has also been published in US1Worksheets and Tapestry journals. She will be reading with Ellen Wright, whose chapbook, In Transit was published in December 2007 by Main Street Rag. Her poetry has recently appeared in Margie, Water-Stone Review, The Paterson Literary Review and online with Cadillac Cicatrix. The recipient of a Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature from New York University, she makes her home in Brooklyn and her living as a musician.

PERCH Cafe & Bar
365 5th Avenue
Park Slope, Brooklyn

5.26.2009

Family Night at Perch, Wednesday's at 6:30pm


The Charistmatic Megaphonic String Orchestra is an old-time string band with a modern twist. Its members are Park Slope's own Bilger family--Burkhard Bilger on guitar, Jennifer Nelson on violin and accordion, Hans Bilger (13) on stand-up bass, and Ruby Bilger (10) on vocals and percussion. Their friend and spiritual leader Michael Abrams plays ukulele and the youngest Bilger--Evangeline (5)--occasionally joins in on songs about chickens. The band plays an uproarious mixture of folk songs, novelties tunes, and rock-and-roll classics, filtered through their own sweet but slightly skewed sensibilities.

365 5TH AVENUE PARK SLOPE
F/R Train to 4th Avenue/9th Street (btwn 5th and 6th St.)
WWW.THEPERCHCAFE.COM

5.25.2009

Tuesday Night Reading at Perch, 7:30pm-May 26th


David King was raised on the sandy shores of California. He currently teaches at The City College. He likes his music loud, and lives in New York. He will be reading with Rudy Baron, who co-founded Downtown Brooklyn, the literary journal of the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University, in 1992, and served as editor until 1998. He served as an instructor of English at that campus for a number of years, before pursuing a law degree at Cardozo School of Law in New York City, which he completed in 2001. Since then he decided he hates the law, and has given up on the legal world, and gone back to teaching and writing. He has been published in a number of journals, and many moons ago published two chapbooks, Shirts and Shaved Armpits and The Lingo of Beer. He currently lives in Westchester and has two beautiful daughters, who he dotes on regularly. Wayne Berninger teaches writing and literature at the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University, where he edits the English Department’s literary magazine, Downtown Brooklyn. He is working on a series of poems set in a zombie-besieged, post-apocalyptic landscape.

365 5TH AVENUE PARK SLOPE
F/R Train to 4th Avenue/9th Street (btwn 5th and 6th St.)
WWW.THEPERCHCAFE.COM

5.21.2009

a new look for urbanseashell—a collection & a new book for Daniel Rabuzzi

Daniel Rabuzzi's first novel, The Choir Boats,
is being accepted for publication. Daniel's wife,
Deborah Mills
did the interior illustrations.

The Choir Boats comes out this summer, and
the first few chapters are online for preview as a PDF.

The summer edition is a limited hardback
with the paperback coming out in the Fall of '09.

Purchase your copy of The Choir Boats
& add it to your list of summer reading.

5.20.2009

Cornelia Street Cafe followed by Bassentric @ 5C Cafe! When? — May 21st

Please join Golda Solomon at
Po’ Jazz at the Cornelia Street CafĂ© on
Thursday 6-8
doors open at 5:30

Continue to “hang” with Golda at 5C where she will be joining
3 sensational bass players for an evening of Bassentric.

Cornelia Street Café
Po’Jazz 6-8 PM

29 Cornelia Street
Greenwich Village

Bassentric 5C Café
68 Ave. C (at 5thSt.)
8-10PM
She will be the poet working with three amazing bass players.
They are Albey Balgochian (founder of Bassentric),
Hill Greene and Francois Grillot

Make it a wonderful evening of hanging out....

4.25.2009

CineWomen On Screen: A NYWIFT Series
Presents "Motherland"
Thursday, April 30th, 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Magno Review 1 Screening Room
729 Seventh Avenue, between 48th & 49th Streets

CineWomen On Screen – A NYWIFT Series celebrates the work of emerging female filmmakers from all over the world. Films that are included in the series must be directed, co-directed, produced, written, edited or shot by women. Whenever possible, the filmmakers are present for discussion and socializing after their works are presented. This month's film is MOTHERLAND, directed by Jennifer Steinman. There will be a Q&A following the screening with the filmmaker, and an after-party to follow.


SYNOPSIS:
Filmmaker and long-time volunteer Jennifer Steinman, had always believed in the theory that "giving is healing." When her good friend's son died tragically in a car accident, Steinman looked for a way to help, and wondered if the opportunity to travel and work as a volunteer could potentially help in her friend's healing process. So in December of 2006, Steinman organized a service trip to South Africa for her friend and 5 other American women who had lost children— a trip designed for the women to give of themselves in service and simultaneously gain a global perspective on the grieving process. With pain in their hearts and the willingness to make a difference, this intrepid group of women traveled half way around the world to live with local African families and to work with African organizations dedicated to improving the lives of children. Motherland is a documentary film that reveals what happened, and the lives that were forever changed, on this journey of hope and healing.

DIRECTOR'S BIO: Jennifer Steinman, Co-Founder of the film production company Smush Media, has over 14 years of experience in television and filmmaking. She began her career as a staff Editor at CBS, both in New York and San Francisco. Her editing work has aired nationally on PBS, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, Sundance Channel and many other television networks. Her films have been accepted into many major film festivals including San Francisco International, Rotterdam, and Sundance, and she has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Editing. MOTHERLAND is Jennifer's directorial debut.

$6 for NYWIFT members
$10 for Nonmembers
RSVP by prepayment or online

4.16.2009

urbanseashell—a collection lineup:

wafels & dinges
good things belgian
April 18 - 19


The yellow wafel & dinges truck will be parked in front of Keyfood on
7th Avenue and Carroll Street in Park Sl0pe, Brooklyn every weekend!
The wafels & dinges guys say "Park Slope loves wafels!"

•••


presents
Literary Tuesday
curated by Pam Laskin
7:30pm

April 21-Lynn Aarti Chandhok’s first book of poems, The View From Zero Bridge, won the 2006 Philip Levine Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared widely in journals, including Tin House, The New Republic, Antioch Review, Missouri Review and Sewanee Theological Review, and in the anthologies Poetry Daily Essentials and Satellite Convulsions: Poems from Tin House. She received a 2007 Glenna Luschei Prize from Prairie Schooner and The Southwest Review’s Morton Marr Prize for Poetry. She teaches high school English at Poly Prep in Brooklyn. She will be reading with Steve Monroe, a playwright. His plays have been performed In New York, Los Angeles and various destinations in between. He adapted his one-act play, The Confession into an award-winning short film. His two full length plays, A Kind Man and A Good Lover and Serious Games, both premiered in Los Angeles and have both been optioned for film. He has recently turned his hand to fiction and is working on his first novel.
•
also at Perch
•


The Charismatic Megaphonic String Orchestra is an old-time string band with a modern twist. Its members are Park Slope's own Bilger family--Burkhard Bilger on guitar, Jennifer Nelson on violin and accordion, Hans Bilger (13) on stand-up bass, and Ruby Bilger (10) on vocals and percussion. Their friend and spiritual leader Michael Abrams plays ukulele and the youngest Bilger--Evangeline (5)--occasionally joins in on songs about chickens. The band plays an uproarious mixture of folk songs, novelties tunes, and rock-and-roll classics, filtered through their own sweet but slightly skewed sensibilities.

Future dates unless otherwise noted: May 6 & 20th, June 3 & 17th

365 5TH AVENUE PARK SLOPE
F/R Train to 4th Avenue/9th Street (btwn 5th and 6th St.)
WWW.THEPERCHCAFE.COM


•••

PRESENTS
A SPECIAL EVENING WITH JIM JARMUSCH
Thursday, April 23, 8:00 p.m.
at the
School of Visual Arts Theater
333 West 23 Street, Manhattan

Jim Jarmusch, one of America’s most distinctive independent filmmakers for a quarter-century, will participate in a special evening program presented by the Museum of the Moving Image. In a rare onstage appearance, the writer/director will discuss his films in a conversation with clips moderated by Chief Curator David Schwartz, on Thursday April 23 at 8:00 PM. In addition to an exclusive look at scenes from his new film The Limits of Control (which is being released by Focus Features in New York and Los Angeles on May 1, and in additional cities later in May), the program will include clips from such Jarmusch movies as Stranger than Paradise, Mystery Train, Night on Earth, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Coffee and Cigarettes, Broken Flowers, and Dead Man.
“Jarmusch’s new film, The Limits of Control, is one of his greatest works,” said Schwartz. “It’s a lean, mysterious, and mesmerizing thriller; a remarkable collaboration with cinematographer Christopher Doyle and a cast led by Isaach De BankolĂ©. This is a perfect occasion to look at Jarmusch’s artistic achievement.”
As a film student in New York City in the late 1970s whose mentors included the legendary Hollywood director Nicholas Ray, Jarmusch was inspired both by the iconoclastic vitality of the city’s “No Wave” punk scene and by the legacy of classic Hollywood and European arthouse filmmaking. His 1984 breakthrough film Stranger than Paradise, an eccentrically deadpan road movie that was a triumph of low-budget inventiveness, a black-and-white movie that has been described as equal parts Ozu and The Honeymooners. It was also a surprise commercial success, inspiring the growth of the American independent film movement. In the 25 years since Stranger than Paradise, Jarmusch has maintained his distinctly idiosyncratic vision, creating a wide range of movies, many of them philosophical variations on the road movie. Museum of the Moving Image presented a complete retrospective, Jim Jarmusch: A Sad and Beautiful World, in 1997.

Tickets for the event are $12 for Museum members / Free for sponsor-level members and above / and $18 for non-members. Order tickets online or by phone at 718.784.4520.

The event will take place at the
School of Visual Arts Theater
333 West 23rd Street, Manhattan

About Museum of the Moving Image
Museum of the Moving Image advances the public understanding and appreciation of the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. It does so by collecting, preserving, and providing access to moving-image related artifacts; screening significant films and other moving-image works; presenting exhibitions of artifacts, artworks, and interactive experiences; and offering educational and interpretive programs to students, teachers, and the general public. Construction is currently underway on a major expansion of the Museum, designed by architect Thomas Leeser. The project entails a complete renovation of the existing first floor and construction of a three-story addition housing a new theater, screening room, galleries, and a multi-classroom education center. The grand opening of the expanded Museum is scheduled for 2010. For more information, visit movingimage.us

•••

Brooklyn Reading Works
Presents
Fiction-in-a-Blender
Curated by Raina Washington


Another great event at
Brooklyn Reading Works
that you won't want to miss.

Fiction-in-a-Blender, an evening of new fiction by
Brooklyn writers curated by Raina Washington.
April 23rd at 8 p.m.

The Old Stone House
5th Avenue and 3rd Street
Park Slope, NY

$5 donation includes blender drinks and refreshments.
Picture of voice-activated blender by PM Torrone

•••

“Be Our Guest” and step into the enchanted world of
Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”
presented by
A Children’s Theatre Workshop, Inc.
at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor
Friday, April 24th at 8:00 PM
Saturday, April 25th at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM and
Sunday, April 26th at 2:00 PM

Liz Oldak as Belle and Adam Fronc as Gaston
head a cast of over 40 young actors
Directed and Choreographed by Helene Leonard.


Stages’ production is directed and choreographed by Helene Leonard and performed by over forty young actors ages eight to nineteen. The musical accompaniment is provided by Amanda Jones and James Benard, with sets created by Robin Richards and Goran Petmil. The magical costumes, an intrinsic part of the production, are provided by Red Curtain Rentals and Barbara Oldak.

The stage version of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”, based on the academy award-winning animated movie, includes all the wonderful songs written by Alan Menken, with lyrics by the late Howard Ashman, along with new songs co-written by Tim Rice. With an enthralling book by Linda Woolverton, Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” entertained Broadway audiences for over thirteen years under the direction of Robert Jess Roth. Now a modern Broadway classic, Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” has been called “the ultimate family entertainment”. This “tale as old as time” should be enjoyed by anyone who has wanted to be loved just for who they are.

Tickets are just $15 at the Bay Street Theatre Box Office, or call (631) 725-9500 to charge by phone. For further information about this or future productions, or to receive a flyer for Stages’ popular Summer Stock program call Stages at (631) 329-1420.


•••


Essence and Accident: Photographs by Hugh Crawford
Opening Party
at the Old Stone House on
April 28, 2009 from 6-8 p.m.

Hugh Crawford's photographs of the city, rural ground, trees and water are passionately formal evocations of the visually serendipitous landscape of rural California and Brooklyn. His close studies of airplanes and trees have the intricate and expressionistic quality of a Jackson Pollack. In Crawford's pictures of Coney Island in the snow, the faded amusement park site is transformed into a moonscape of fake palm trees and the scrappy relics of a bygone era. His extreme close-ups of water reveal an abstract world of mood and motion that are meditative and supremely seductive.

Hugh Crawford has been taking photographs since he was a child growing up on a walnut farm in Northern California. He studied photography and received a BA from Bard College and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. His editorial work has appeared in Rolling Stone, New York Magazine, Tattler and Newsweek. His fine art work has been exhibited in numerous galleries in NYC and San Francisco. A recipient of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, he was also a artist-in-residence at ArtPark in Buffalo, NY. He is currently at work on a book about Polaroid photographer Jamie Livingston. His photos can be seen daily on the No Words Daily Pix feature of Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn (otbkb.com) A freelance photographer and computer software developer, Hugh lives in Park Slope with his wife, Louise Crawford, and their children, Henry and Alice.

The show runs through June 30th
at
The Old Stone House
5th Avenue and 3rd Street
Park Slope, NY

The gallery is open on weekends and by appointment:
Contact hugh @hughcrawford.com
The photographer will be in the gallery on Fridays from 4-6 p.m.

For information and directions

•••



MINGLE AND TRY YOUR LUCK AT OUR TABLE GAMES

WITH CELEBRITY HOSTS AND DEALERS:

IRA GLASS dealing blackjack
SARAH VOWELL playing war
JON SCIESZKA connecting four

AND FABULOUS PRIZES, INCLUDING:
Tickets to The Daily Show
A tour of The New York Times
A field trip to 826NYC, hosted by Jon Scieszka

826NYC / The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.
Thursday, April 30, 7 p.m.
372 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
Tickets: $100, $250, $500*
Tickets can be purchased by calling 718.499.9884

*Admission will be exchanged for 826NYC Bail-Out Billion Dollar Bills,
valid only on game night!

All proceeds benefit 826NYC's creative programming for students ages 6-18.
All donations are tax-deductible.
If you have any questions, please email
spollock@826nyc.org or call 718.499.9884

•••

at the
powerHouse Arena in Dumbo

Find out why Brooklyn is the bloggiest place in America at
the Fourth Annual Brooklyn Blogfest on
May 7, 2009 at powerHouse Arena in DUMBO.
"Where better to take the pulse of this rapidly growing community of writers, thinkers and observers than the Brooklyn Blogfest?" ~ Sewell Chan, The New York Times

For more information or to register, visit the Brooklyn Blogfest website.

To find out about sponsorship opportunities for Brooklyn Blogfest, contact Louise Crawford
(e: louise_crawford@yahoo.com, c: 718-288-4290).

The Details:

Fourth Annual Brooklyn Blogfest May 7, 2009
Doors open at 7 p.m.
powerHouse Arena
37 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Admission: $10

Brooklyn Blogfest after-party Galapagos Art Space
16 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
(right across the street from powerHouse Arena)
Cash Bar